I did this ride within days of it being in the newspaper and the signs directing you to go the right way were already missing. Personally I did not find it easy to find and when I finally found the exit out onto the truck route of 1/9 it was anti climactic.

I guess if you do this ride often you can probably find it easier.

I live in Journal Square but as a runner I am constantly running to this area.

If it is late or dark I will not run past Montgomery since I do not feel safe. If it is light out I will run to Communipaw or run up one of the side streets to Lincoln Park. There are a lot of people just hanging around the streets at all times of day, even as early as 6 AM. Most people do not bother me but you can see the neighborhood change as you move away from Journal Square to Communipaw. I notice more loitering, more homeless, more garbage on the streets and the condition of the properties tends to decrease as well.

This is all just my opinion. I also think that the properties on Kennedy closer to St Peters is nicer than the properties on Bergen. There also seems to be less people just hanging out on Kennedy.

Things do get tricky when you are working within a budget but most every neighborhood has declined in value and you may be able to get a deal in a neighborhood you thought you could not previously afford. (Stinks for me since I bought 5 years ago and now I could have purchased a 3 BR with a balcony as opposed to a 1BR)

Hope that helps.

I attempted this ride once on my road bike and didnt find it designed for a road bike. The path to connect out of the park is a gravel type road that really beats up your tires. Once out of the gravel area you ride on a sidewalk on the side of route 1/9 truck route. The ride does not look very scenic and I turned around at that point and went back home.

In my opinion the ride seemed a bit scary and hectic. This ride may work for people but I didnt feel safe doing this ride before work since the exit within Lincoln Park is in a very remote section of the park. I prefer riding in parks and paths that are not right next to traffic.

While I understand that this landlord is at fault and should have fixed the building I wonder why someone would stay in a shithole for 36 years. I can understand if someone stays for a year or two, maybe even 5 years while they try to find a new affordable place but 36 years being unhappy and miserable sounds terrible.

No power outages at all.

Did anyone else hear those two loud explosions last night around 3 AM near route 139 JSQ / Heights? I am just wondering what it was. I glanced out of my window and it looked like a fireball of many colors. My guess is a utility pole or something else got hit by lightning.

You guys are funny. I will try out a couple courts and see which one I like the best.

Pferm201 Im out of your 20 - 23 age range - too bad. lol

I am looking for some recommendations on good basketball courts in the area. I recently got into basketball at the gym but would love to play outside.

I enjoy pick up games but want to find a court that is not filled with mean, agressive players. Also, if I can find a court with players that don't mind playing against a girl that would be great.

:)

What started as a way to vent my frustration is truning into an idoitic post.

Obviously a cab eventually stopped but as I mentioned there were a couple cabs that did not and that was what I was referencing.

I did not get bumped because as the cabs finally started picking up I waited in line and got into a cab when it was my turn.

I also did not talk to this guy. He was on the line venting his frustration about the cabs to anyone who listened. I was behind him on line, heard what he was talking about and witnessed the cabs pulling right away.

I don't think he was quick to throw the race card. If people are on the line then you pick them up. I suppose I am calling out the two specific cabs that I saw drive away without picking up the passengers. The guy said that there were others that drove right by as well.

Oh well it was just something that pissed me off.

I did not get bumped to the front. That would have been ridiculous. After those two cabs didnt stop the next cabs did.

It's just insane.

Last night I saw the craziest thing ever. I was walking up to the JSQ path cab area and this guy starts saying that the cabs just wont stop for him because he is black. At first I wasnt sure if that was true but then 2 more cabs drove through the cab pick up area with empty cabs, lights on and pulled away. At the time I was the only white person on the line and everyone else just happened to be black. I was disgusted with the way these cab drivers were acting.

I thought the world was different. I was unaware that this sh!t still occurred today. Jersey City Cab drivers you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I only take cabs later at night and if I could boycott these cab drivers I would.

I would love it to be up and coming to a place where you can stroll down the street and go a nice new restaurant, sit in a cafe and drink some coffee, some nice local bars and maybe even a bookstore and some cute retail shops. I kept hearing that JSQ was soon to become a smaller, watered down version of Hoboken. In my opinion that would be awesome but we are FAR from that.

Trust me I considered packing up and moving since Hoboken has exactly what I am looking for BUT that is something I cant do unless I want to lose all the money I put down. It's unfortunate so for now I will make the best of this situation and pretend that the Village restaurant, Journal Square Pub and all the dollar stores suit my needs. lol

I have lived in Journal Square for 4 years now and when I moved here it was partly because it was up and coming, close to the city and "affordable" compared to other areas. It's been 4 years and there have been barely any changes.

Obviously JSQ was hit by the economy and like everyone else our market value's have gone down. I have basically put it in my head that I would need another couple years before I can (hopefully) regain my equity which is a reality I have to deal with.

What are people's opinions on the JSQ area? Do people know of developments in the area or things in the pipeline.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

I called the assessor's office and they indicated that the first 2 quarters of 2011 were calculated using the 2010 rates and the decreased asssessed values were also not used.

I have to call back tomorrow so they can manually change my billing to reflect the right information.

Does anyone know the Jersey City property tax rate for 2011?

It seems my assessed value went down for 2011, the assessors role was last updated in late 2010 and my taxes are higher for 2011 than they were in 2010. Im confused.

If anyone knows the rate or where to look that would be great. I did a couple google searches and didnt come up with anything.

Just one more thing on pets...They are totally your decision and sometimes desperate times calls for desperate measures (i.e. getting a tenant with a pet). If you choose to allow pets request a non-refundable pet deposit of $200 or so. I found this to be very helpful when the tenant moves out for cleaning up the pet hair and getting rid of any pet odor.

My pet policy is just based on personal experience. One woman asked if she can bring her dog. I said yes, she moved in 2 dogs, 2 cats, some birds, a ferret and lord knows what else. When she moved out I had to hire a professional cleaning company to come in twice and get rid of the smell. Somehow though my tenants still manage to sneak pets into my pet free buildings. sigh!

I agree for the most part with Sutherland.

Accurate Credit Bureau is great for credit checks and you can get a landlord preferred report for approx. $30.

Pets are always a disaster when they leave and in my experience when you let them have a dog, they bring along all their other animal friends.

Craigslist is a great place to advertise, posting pictures of the place are always helpful. If you will do a credit check make sure you put that in your posting as they will need to sign off on the credit check. Accurate Credit also has some free apartment applications.

Regardless of if you have a month to month or a 12 monthe lease it will be equally as hard to get them out. Once people stop paying rent and you want them out you would have to evict them regardless if month to month or not. I prefer signing a 1 year lease and hope and pray that they will not break the lease. You can add a break the lease clause to the lease and include a fee they would pay for breaking it.

I disagree with Sutherland on being able to discriminate. Unless you are an owner occupant of a building with less than 4 units you have to follow the guidelines every other landlord needs to follow and can not discriminate based on race, religon etc etc..

PM me if you want more information.

Im a landlady as well and cant believe this will actually come out of my mouth but....

If she is completely driving you mad you can always annonomously report an illegal apartment and she will get fined like crazy. You would also have to move out so you may want to consider that if you make that decision.

Why is she threatening you? As a landlord she can only legally use your security deposit for certain things. If i were you I would check the law in NJ regarding security deposits and be informed.

A couple years ago my friend was living in an illegal basement apartment. He did not know it was illegal and got kicked out of the apartment because somone reported it as an illegal apartment. The guy had to leave the apartment in a couple days. The owner of the building got fined $10K for having an illegal apartment.

If you are purchasing this house ask your real estate agent if the apartment is legal. I may be wrong but the tax records should indicate what kind of property this is. A quick rule of thumb is to count the electric or gas meters as the property should have one meter for each unit. The only issue here is that sometimes people install a meter for common utilities so this may not be 100% accurate in determining how many legal units there are but its a good rule of thumb for quick analysis.

Does anyone have pricing for Newport Swim?

I live in a building with 5 doormen, a super, security, landscapers, porters etc. It seems like the list never ends (and they actually send a list). I typically tip only the doormen since I just can't afford more and I tip them $20 - $25 each and give them some cookies or wine.

One year I just gave wine and a card and one of the doormen rang my bell to make sure there was no money in the card. Awkward!!!

My Tv just lost its color and is now a black and white tv. GRRRR!!!!

This problem happened as I was switching my cable boxes from one defective cable box to another. I am told to get the cost to repair this TV and submit to my cable company as this problem only happened while switching the equipment.

Does anyone know of a tv repair guy that can give me an estimate for repairing / restoring the color on my tv? The TV is a 32" standard TV that is NOT a flat screen but a TV with the big back.

Does anyone know if I need to bring the TV in to the shop or if someone makes house calls or provides an estimate based on general information? The TV is quite heavy to carry.

Any advice would be helpful.

I wonder if they make this much based on how many hours they work per day. Crossing guards don't work all day but maybe a couple hours per day maximum. Perhaps I am in the wrong field. I also wonder if that is an all in number that includes their benefits, payroll tax etc.

Im going to try Rene's out on Wednesday.

Thanks.

Just in case my friends place does not work out - does anyone know of a place in Jersey City area that repairs cracked rims?

You are all so helpful. I went to Ralph's and after they took off my rim for the rim job I was told I have a crack and he couldnt fix it. I then called the Westside junkyard to get a new rim. They had my rim and quoted me $40 for the new rim. I drove to Westside and the rim was the wrong one and offered to order my actual rim and it would cost $100. sigh

So now I am going a different route. A friend of mine mentioned he knows someone that fixes rims even if they have a crack for around $60.

Oh did I mention that Ralph's pointed out a bubble on my tire and mentioned that I also need a new tire. sigh again.

Soon I will just need a new car :)

Where is this Ralph's place and where can I get my rim beaten?

That just sounds dirty lol

Does anyone know where there may be a junkyard in jerry city or a place I can find a 2001 honda accord rim? Mine bent and the air wont stay in my tire. Let me know.

I had my windows tinted when I lived in CT, tried to get my car inspected here and failed. I then heard of some shady vehicle inspectors that you can pay $65 to get your car inspected even if you have issues.

Although I knew it was wrong I attempted that route and got denied by the shady car inspector. He indicated he would never pass a car with tinted windows.

My 2001 accord looks so much better with tints. Oh well.


Just wanted to throw that out there. I guess he was not so shady after all :)